Let's talk Rail Nation Masters

The biggest competition yet where the best players from all over the world will compete against each other for six weeks. Every player who has already obtained two or more stars is automatically part of this event. But don’t worry! If you don’t have enough stars, your creativity might give you a wildcard.

For the first time ever, a Classic server will feature the new user interface that you may already have seen from USA and Steam over Europe.

Rail Nation Masters start on January 29th. A six-week race for the top positions on Classic express server!

P.S. if you did not receive an invite via email but you do have 2 stars or more - you can still start the RN Masters round as usual. 2 stars are your ticket to get in. Invites are marketing mails, so those can be stuck in spam filter, found from spam box or Rail Nation is missing their permission to send you marketing emails.

I was wondering.. I asked this question on several platforms.
No matter where i read, you say anything about being able to buy gold.

Will you be able to buy gold in this master round. Buying Bonus trains and lottery tickets?

Or will gold buying be removed together with lottery tickets so everyone has equal oppotunity to win?

I know Travian is making money by selling gold, But you also gain money from people watching adds. This is the master round. the Rail Nation Championship.
Are you going to let that be decided by money or skill???

I will not be participating. I see no reason to take part in a Championship where real life money will be the deciding factor.
In a normal round with no real prices on stake, i dont mind its pay to win. But in a contest where you can win prizes, you will most likely have to spend more money in the 6 weeks, than what the prizes are worth, if you even want to have a minimal chance to win it. I know you dont force people to buy gold, but alot of people are very competetive, and given the oppotunity, they will try and win no matter the cost.

You could have made an entrance fee to the server. Then you would still have made some money. But this is not right.

You will never find the real champion this way. The best player and association. You will only find the players with the deepest pockets. So stop advetising it like that.
Your advetisement should be more like: "Do you want to pay alot of money to get an advantage over others, and with a small chance to win a simple prize not worth the investments you made, then join the Pay to Win railnation server, that we like to call the Master game or Championship to lure our already very active members to pay more money"

Rail Masters should focus on skill. Maybe a "Moneybags" round would be appropriate, but in a sense, we already have that. I'd jump on a non-plastic round in a heartbeat, preferring to play against skill instead of against cash.

I think that when we are talking about "Masters" we are talking about "specialists" with some "extra skills"and not about "big spenders" who they are like to call themselves "masterplayers"....This is not a skill game but a big pocket game for them :-))...I will play at this server but only for fun and nothing else because i like this game.....and i will laugh with the "win with any cost"player who wants to be the master championship.....

I see the announcement that invitations have been send out, I have a 3 star account and have not received any invitation. I checked mail and spam filters.

DO you need to have a mail or special invitation link to be able to register? or will the server show up in the lobby of my account once it is available?

It may well be that you have to be subscribed to receive marketing emails from Rail Nation. If you have subscribed and the email was not sent, then we will have to find another way for you to get the invite - I will ask around!

And then my own opinion on money vs skill with Rail Nation Masters. This is in no way an official announcement from RN, just my personal opinion as a player. I think Rail Nation would need to be re-designed into something completely else, if the Gold option was not there - and then it would not be Rail Nation we love anymore.

Gold opens up features that helps you save time and make better decisions, but Gold can't buy good companions or best game strategy. RN is balanced so that Gold alone will not get you the top spot. Especially not on Masters, since you don't have the benefit of noobs around you.

About ad videos, I wouldn't expect those to pay the bills any more than a tip to a bartender's jar to keep the bar open. If ad videos would pay the bills, we would need those popping up after each mouse click, and we all know how playable those games are... People are paying to get an ad free game, and that's clearly not how Travian Games runs any of their games.

Agree or disagree, I would still like to remind you that this is all based on my own experience and it is not an official opinion in any way. It's the first RN Masters ever, and my fingers curl of all the excitement - do we get surprise winners or should we put our trust to known rail veterans? I would probably be listening to Rail Nation Masters radio channel to know who's in the lead at each moment and how does it feel

MY Personal Opinion - from someone who does not have access to play / unbiased opinion.

Rail nations masters is a one time only round. The only way to make this special event fair and equal to all is to disallow gold for RL currency. That being said Gold is an integral part of game play.Solution: Make the Masters round a round where all players have Plus accounts for the duration. Start each player with 200 Gold + the gold they can earn from following Lucy's steps. Then it is up to the players how to spend it. Do you buy mechanics and boosts, or buy lottery tickets in hopes of winning bonus engines or the pot of gold? Save it for an era package at the right time? get an instant EH upgrade? This keeps the special event equal to all economic backgrounds, and keeps the game play in tact.

A simple two division game would solve the purchased gold dilemma. If you buy gold to use in the tournament then you are in gold division. If you don't buy gold your in the cheapskate division. Real world prizes go to gold division players. RN rewards are given to winners of each division. Game play is standard format.

Players with 2 stars or more who did not receive the invite via email, can play normally on RN Masters round as soon as the server starts.

That is hardly fair..since we didn't get an invite and have to start at the start of the server..that is a disadvantage of not having a corp going or being in a corp to start with..

Hi Docsbabe,

invite is the same as permission to participate on RN Masters. Every player has the same starting position with the exception of career engine levels. There's still time before Masters start to find your corp friends and plan the strategy together. There's no pre-registration on Rail Nation Masters.

Players with 2 stars or more who did not receive the invite via email, can play normally on RN Masters round as soon as the server starts.

That is hardly fair..since we didn't get an invite and have to start at the start of the server..that is a disadvantage of not having a corp going or being in a corp to start with..

Hi Docsbabe,
invite is the same as permission to participate on RN Masters. Every player has the same starting position with the exception of career engine levels. There's still time before Masters start to find your corp friends and plan the strategy together. There's no pre-registration on Rail Nation Masters.

well, just got the invite in the mail..guess you sent it when I was asking you how fair it would be to start without the invite..thanks railnation..